[Locke]

Utchy should have died - as for the rest, living is fine if living feels like an achievement.

Ian and Souji seemed almost overjoyed that if they die...they get to die side by side, but within moments the enemy is defeated, the battle is over and there is just...nothing, there is no climax to this realisation. They were never happy that they ended up LIVING together, so why let them live at all?

When Nossan blocks the enemies on the bridge, his only comment is not about himself - but his family - and when he ends up living, does he go rushing to scoop Rika in his arms, overjoyed with the notion that he didn't die for his family? LOL NO he looks at his beast battery and cries about King.

This is where the ending failed for me. Why establish their deaths, allow them all to live, but then never make living feel like something earned? Something achieved? A goal satisfied. It felt like a cop out, not a victory.